"It was not a nice business..."

[Tim West]

Max Immelmann recounts an early encounter with Lts J.0. Andrews and N.P.
Manfield of 24 Sqn.

April 25th 1916:

'I took off about 1100 hrs and met two English biplanes south of
Bapaume. I was about 700 meters higher and therefore came up with
them very quickly and attacked one. He seemed to heel over after a few
shots, but unfortunately I was mistaken. The two worked splendidly
together in the course of the fight and put 11 shots into my machine.
The petrol tank, the struts on the fuselage, the undercarriage and the
propeller were hit. I could only save myself by a nose-dive of 100
meters. Then at last the two left me alone. It was not a nice business.'





The quote about says it all. When I first read it in Greg's awesome "Early German Aces"....I knew I wanted to render the scene someday. So...I did. Lol

I only put Immelmann in a E.III, cause that's what I had. I'm not aware of any firm info on what plane he might have been flying this day. He could have very well been flying a E.IV.

The DH-2's represent 24's B Flight. In the popular image of Lt.Andrews, it appears to me that the DH-2, he is standing in front of, has white wheel covers. Lol...I wanted to do C Flight but Terry beat me to it...and the streamer too. Haha... But the photo still points to white imho.

Around this time, the planes had not had the struts painted with the famous stripes seen on 24's planes...also yet to come is the saw tooth pattern on the bottom deck. So we are left the bland in between paint scheme. They had started to paint the wings in PC10 by now and the wheels where starting to be reversed.

so on and so forth...

The comp was inspired by many of the covers in the "WWI Aviation books cover art" thread.

The scene was made using Maya/Mental Ray and PhotoShop. No photos were harmed in the making of this image

Since there has been a few 3D postings lately, here are some shots from Maya. Oh...the terrain is a rehash of my St.Mihiel Salient mesh. Looks French to me =P





Thanks for having a look....